One look at the Wikipedia entry for “List of best selling video game franchises” reveals some interesting implications about what makes a video game successful. The top ten are Mario, Pokemon, Tetris, The Sims, Need for Speed, FIFA, Grand Theft Auto, Final Fantasy, Madden NFL, and Sonic the Hedgehog, respectively. A list of best-selling individual games can be found here, but it doesn’t yield much difference—Pokemon, Mario, Grand Theft Auto, and Sims games each appear at least twice in the top 10.
When it comes to what makes these particular games successful, there appears to be no common thread that can be found and analyzed. Video games, like any good form of art, are multi-faceted and reflect such a large amount of information about our culture that they defy a simple, universal analysis. One of the first problems that must be confronted when trying to determine what makes video games successful is the expectations of the culture receiving those video games. For example, it may surprise some people that Sonic the Hedgehog makes the top ten on the Wikipedia list, considering it hasn’t been particularly relevant in the gaming world since the Sega Genesis era of the early 90’s. Similarly, Mario games have a legacy attached to them that may account for their high spot on the list; perhaps the success of the original game has left an aura around the franchise which motivates people to buy its successors. At the same time, the positive feedback from the gaming community has surely motivated the people at Nintendo to continue striving for excellence in that franchise, and with new installments like Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii, many would argue that they have achieved it. Nevertheless, one thing that makes for success in a video game is the success of its predeccsors.
Moving beyond that, an analysis of the top franchises on the Wikipedia list suggests a wide variety of reasons for the appeal of games. Pokemon was (and still is, I guess?) an all-out sensation in most forms of media, so perhaps the conclusion that we can draw from that is that video games often reflect, or capitalize upon, trends in other parts of our culture. By a similar token, FIFA games reflect the appeal of the world’s most popular sport—soccer. Tetris’ success is something entirely different—a seemingly simple puzzle game that tests our reaction time and puzzle-solving skills, and puts us in a never-ending competition with ourselves to see if we can get an even higher score. Final Fantasy is a similar type of game to what I discussed in my Post “Video games are good for you,” games that are largely centered around an engrossing environment and narrative—these games, I think, succeed for more noble reasons than simple entertainment, and can easily be included in the realm of art. Grand Theft Auto has elements of this story-centered game type, but also capitalizes on some of our darker impulses and suggests another appeal of video games—they give us the opportunity to do things that we wouldn’t (or couldn’t), for one reason or another, do in real life (Take, for example, the dramtic example of the best selling Sims series). For that reason, video games are actually an excellent indicator of some of the deepest desires and fascinations of our culture.
Overview
One look at the Wikipedia entry for “List of best selling video game franchises” reveals some interesting implications about what makes a video game successful. The top ten are Mario, Pokemon, Tetris, The Sims, Need for Speed, FIFA, Grand Theft Auto, Final Fantasy, Madden NFL, and Sonic the Hedgehog, respectively. A list of best-selling individual games can be found here, but it doesn’t yield much difference—Pokemon, Mario, Grand Theft Auto, and Sims games each appear at least twice in the top 10.
When it comes to what makes these particular games successful, there appears to be no common thread that can be found and analyzed. Video games, like any good form of art, are multi-faceted and reflect such a large amount of information about our culture that they defy a simple, universal analysis. One of the first problems that must be confronted when trying to determine what makes video games successful is the expectations of the culture receiving those video games. For example, it may surprise some people that Sonic the Hedgehog makes the top ten on the Wikipedia list, considering it hasn’t been particularly relevant in the gaming world since the Sega Genesis era of the early 90’s. Similarly, Mario games have a legacy attached to them that may account for their high spot on the list; perhaps the success of the original game has left an aura around the franchise which motivates people to buy its successors. At the same time, the positive feedback from the gaming community has surely motivated the people at Nintendo to continue striving for excellence in that franchise, and with new installments like Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii, many would argue that they have achieved it. Nevertheless, one thing that makes for success in a video game is the success of its predeccsors.
Moving beyond that, an analysis of the top franchises on the Wikipedia list suggests a wide variety of reasons for the appeal of games. Pokemon was (and still is, I guess?) an all-out sensation in most forms of media, so perhaps the conclusion that we can draw from that is that video games often reflect, or capitalize upon, trends in other parts of our culture. By a similar token, FIFA games reflect the appeal of the world’s most popular sport—soccer. Tetris’ success is something entirely different—a seemingly simple puzzle game that tests our reaction time and puzzle-solving skills, and puts us in a never-ending competition with ourselves to see if we can get an even higher score. Final Fantasy is a similar type of game to what I discussed in my Post “Video games are good for you,” games that are largely centered around an engrossing environment and narrative—these games, I think, succeed for more noble reasons than simple entertainment, and can easily be included in the realm of art. Grand Theft Auto has elements of this story-centered game type, but also capitalizes on some of our darker impulses and suggests another appeal of video games—they give us the opportunity to do things that we wouldn’t (or couldn’t), for one reason or another, do in real life (Take, for example, the dramtic example of the best selling Sims series). For that reason, video games are actually an excellent indicator of some of the deepest desires and fascinations of our culture.
History
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Opinion
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Future Trends?
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